I SURE hope I’m wrong, but from the schedul ing, to its studio show, to the presence of inexperienced analysts (not that all experienced ones are better), to the absence of high-def telecasts on many systems, the four Major League Baseball division series then the NLCS, all now in the exclusive hands of TBS, feel like another postseason TV disaster on the come.
Since baseball went to the wild card, the postseason on TV has carried a trial-and-error quality more in line with spring training.
Remember the regionalized postseason presented by The Baseball Network, MLB’s calamitous 1994 misadventure? Recall how more games went unseen when they were moved to FOX’s FX cable network? And who can forgive, er, forget, when even more games went unseen when they appeared on ABC’s Family Channel cable network?
One hopeful sign is that Ted Robinson, so solid as a Mets’ broadcaster for four seasons, will be one of TBS’ play-by-players. But, again, baseball fans are advised to prepare for an ordeal.
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CBS’ NFL pregame host James Brown last Sunday suddenly went into a perturbed riff about the fallout from the interview he conducted for HBO with Eagles QB Donovan McNabb, which appeared the week before.
Brown was upset that some in the media had a negative reaction to McNabb’s take on race, specifically on being a black quarterback, which Brown said McNabb spoke of in “an inoffensive” manner.
McNabb said the rules for black QBs are different than for white QBs, that they get criticized more, that white QBs escape harsh analysis, that black QBs are held to a higher standard. He made it very clear that black QBs are victims of widespread and continuing racism.
Though that might’ve once been true, I don’t think it’s any longer a broad truth, nor has it been for years, unless one considers the one racist lout in 20 or 20,000 to be the national spokesperson for all, including the media. In such a racist world, how would McNabb explain how he has been exceedingly privileged as a commercial endorser, chosen and rewarded ahead of white QBs?
If Brown thinks McNabb’s claim of predominant, antiquated racism among fans and media was “inoffensive,” I wonder how he’d feel about such a blanket condemnation of blacks?
Brown finished with the suggestion that we should “walk a mile in a man’s shoes” before we pass judgment. Agreed.
Try mine on. I know how I was raised, and I know what’s in my head and in my heart. And I’m not alone in being sickened and tired of being presumed to be a racist or part of a media conspiracy to keep blacks down. That, to me, is very offensive.
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Fair is fair. Last Sunday, when Mike Francesa, during his NFL preview radio show, touted the Steelers over the 49ers, he said the Niners were a 2-0 team with little offense. Surely, this would be another in a long series of colossal Francesa backfires; the Niners would score 35 and I’d bust his chops.
The Steelers not only won, 37-16, the Niners didn’t score a TD until 2:22 was left. Good call, Mike.
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If ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” telecasts are examined for improvement, how could tomorrow’s telecast not be much different? Only when referee Mike Carey was on the field microphone last Monday was there more than five seconds of consecutive silence from the three fellows in the booth or the two sideline reporters, much like Weeks 1 and 2.
After a while, the words became just noise, a collection of blah, blah, blahs and hah, hah, hahs. It seems impossible that any of the five ESPN voices or the telecast’s producer could enjoy, let alone suffer, such a telecast if seated in his or her home. But leave it to ESPN to turn TV into bad radio – and keep it that way.
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YES’ memorial of Phil Rizzuto last week accidentally included an action clip of Tony Kubek. Understandable. Kubek also played short for the Yankees and wore No. 10. Other similarities: Both were under 7 feet tall: Kubek was 6-3; Rizzuto was barely 5-6. And though Rizzuto never played with Bobby Richardson, also seen in the Kubek clip, Richardson, too, was under 7 feet. Geez.
ESPN delivered a legit scoop Wednesday when “Outside the Lines” reported that ump Bruce Froemming never served his 2003 suspension for an anti-Semitic and misogynistic comment. All others reported Wednesday’s suspension of Mike Winters for inflammatory comments toward the Padres’ Milton Bradley as the first suspension of an ump since Froemming’s.
Reader Dom LaVarco asks how it’s possible for Bruce from Flushing to be heard on WFAN at all hours. “Does he ever sleep?” Actually, Dom, there are several Bruces from Flushing. They work shifts.